No more tickets for tinted car windows in NJ? Century-old law under review

A century-old state law used by police to pull over drivers for having tinted car windshields and windows is getting a new look for possible changes.

The law prohibits the operation of a motor vehicle with any "non-transparent material" such as stickers, signs, posters on front windshields and front side windows. The law, which was enacted more than 100 years ago and hasn't been changed in nearly 90 years, was crafted decades before the first car window was tinted.

But it has served as the basis for traffic stops and tinted window citations, according to the New Jersey Law Revision Commission.

The commission, which reviews statutes to make sure they're clear, has agreed to research how other states regulate window tinting and suggest how state legislators should tweak the law, according a report by New Jersey Monitor.

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It follows a man's 2022 successful challenge of his gun conviction on charges Trenton police filed after stopping him for a tinted rear windshield, the report states.

“The rear window statute prohibits the operation of motor vehicles with nontransparent material on the windshield or on the side windows,” said attorney Christopher Camaj, a commission volunteer, according to the New Jersey Monitor report. “Today, that statute serves as a basis for traffic stops and citations related to tinted windows. The statute itself, however, was enacted in 1921, last amended in 1937, both of which predate window tints by several decades.”

Police statewide issued 45,495 citations under the law last year, and another 43,624 through October of this year, according to the New Jersey Administrative Office of the Courts, New Jersey Monitor reported.

David P. Willis: dwillis@gannettnj.com

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: NJ tinted car window ban under review by commission